BYU men’s volleyball star Gabi Garcia Fernandez signs with Italian club

Former BYU men’s volleyball player Gabi Garcia Fernandez signed his first professional contract with Italian club A.S. Volley Lube, the club announced Saturday.

“I thank the management and the coach of Lube for the confidence in my abilities. I am thrilled to be able to train with a team full of champions and to be able to improve my volleyball,” Garcia Fernandez told the club. “I can’t wait to be in Italy and to put myself at the service of the team.”

Garcia Fernandez, the 2021 MPSF Player of the Year and 2020 AVCA National Player of the Year, begins his professional career in Italy after a deep run in the NCAA Tournament with BYU, ending with a loss in the national championship match to No. 1 Hawaii.

A.S. Volley Lube has a history of signing BYU greats as 2014 AVCA Player of the Year Taylor Sander played for the club from 2017 to 2018.

Garcia Fernandez led the Cougars as NCAA runner-ups with 305 kills and 42 service aces this season and ranks second all-time in career aces at BYU with 181, second only to Sander.